Ladder Advice

• Posted on March 10, 2018
• by mikew
• in Fix It & Use It
• No Comments.

I’m convinced that the most dangerous tool that homeowners own is a ladder. One of my recent continuing education courses reviewed ladder safety. Watching the re-enactment videos was sobering and put a healthy fear in me about climbing to places that only monkeys, squirrels and birds dare live! Here’s some advice I have for those of you who need a little counsel ladder safety.

Spouses, feel free to forward this along to your loved one who seems to have a disconnect between brain halves and says climbing high places is not a big deal!

• Buy your ladders new. Ladders are kind of like bike helmets. You just don’t know its history and as ladders age, they need maintenance and eventually need to be replaced.
• Only keep the ladders you feel comfortable climbing. I bought a 12.5′ ladder because that is as I high as I feel safely climbing. No need for a 20′ extension ladder if you don’t feel safe climbing it.
• When climbing ladders keep three points of contact at all times. Move one hand or foot at a time, and keep your hands free. This means you need to avoid carrying things up and down with you. And that means you will have to find a creative way to get things up and down!
• Hold onto the rungs, not the rails, as you ascend or descend. If a foot slips you have significant more support and hand strength holding a horizontal support than a vertical one.
• Be sure the ladder is securely resting against the wall or gutter, and also standing squarely and firmly on the ground below. This is probably the biggest mistake and cause of ladder accidents. Check how your ladder is situated twice before climbing. Many times I start to climb up only to return after a few rungs to better situate things.
• Ideally, have someone else keep on eye on things, or better yet, keep a hand on things while you go up and down. They can also help hand you the items that you need to haul up to the attic or atop the roof.

I recently bought a new ladder – my good friend and inspection partner, Gavin Parks, put me onto it. Instead of lugging my hefty Little Giant around, I now have a sturdy, lightweight telescoping ladder. Lots of sizes were available but I bought one that limited my climbing antics to 12 feet!